Minolta-QMS will announce a new warranty and service program to its authorised resellers, following a series of industry focus groups which highlighted service levels as one of the main factors in determining product advantage.
The company has also added three new printer ranges to its product list, launching the magicolour 6100 DeskLaser, the monochrome PagePro 4100 and the PagePro 1100, the company's first SOHO entry on the market.
"Minolta-QMS is also in the monochrome business. It is a bit of secret - even for us," Minolta-QMS Australia's managing director Greg Newham joked with resellers at a recent industry evening. "The Page Pro 1100 series is the first true SOHO product we have had, with an entry level retail price of $549."The series has a printing speed of 10 pages per minute (ppm) with a resolution of 1200 dots per inch (dpi) and features the option of a 10/100BaseT Ethernet interface and Web-based printer utility for network administrators.
"Combining QMS and Minolta's resources over the past few months has allowed us to extend our product line into the affordable monochrome laser printer market," Newham said.
The next step up in Minolta's office monochrome laser printer is the new range of PagePro 4100, available in five models. With an output of 18ppm, the printers can hold 1250 sheets and have a rated duty cycle of up to 60,000 pages a month. The printers also come with Ethernet interface for workgroups.
Minolta has extended its magicolour 6100 colour laser printer range with the 6100 DeskLaser launch. The printers use the Windows Print System built into Windows. Minolta claims this increases the colour print speed to 6ppm minute.
In black and white, print speeds can reach 24ppm. The Ethernet interface on the A3 printer comes standard. Consumables are also relatively cost effective, the company claims.
"I think the 6100 is the best product we have launched in the last two years," Newham told resellers. "We have a lot of faith that this product will sell extremely well."The printers will be available from distributors at the end of the month.
Minolta-QMS was formed on April 1 following the acquisition of QMS by Minolta, last year.
The focus groups revealed resellers liked the margins offered on printers and consumables as well as the popularity of the Minolta brand name, but service levels could be improved.
The company has also partnered with marketing solution elateral from the vendor of the same name to allow resellers to produce customised advertising material using the Minolta-QMS brand. It will also pay the production costs of joint branded PDF files produced using elateral and will offer authorised resellers special demonstration unit prices and run a series of promotional campaigns throughout the year.